Hook and eye



(No Model.)

H'. s. WEDMORE.

HOOK A ND EYE.

I FIESEES- I TATES UN ITE 3D:

PATENT OFFICE.

HOOK AND EYE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 523,700, dated July 31, 1894.

Application filed March 17, 1894.

To aZZ whom it may concern/.-

Be it known that I, HENRY S. WEDMORE, of Guilford, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Hooks and Eyes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in hooks and-eyes with the object in view of rendering them proof against accidental or unintentional unhooking without increasing to any considerable degree-the material employed in manufacturing them or their cost.

A practical embodiment of myinvention is represented in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan View of the hook and eye, as they appear when engaged. Fig. 2 is a transverse, longitudinal section throughthe same. Fig. 3 is a View 'in edge elevation, showing the position which the eye assumes relatively to the hook during the operation of either hooking or unhooking, and Fig. 4 is a top plan View of a hook and eye, showing a modified form of eye.

The hook is formed by a single piece of wire or other suitable material, either circular, oval or polygonal in cross section, as may be desired. The ends of the wire of which the hook is formed are turned to form loops a, a for purposes of attaching the hook to the garment and from said loops the two opposite parts A, A of the shank separate from each other and extend for a distance somewhat greater than the length which the bill of the hook is intended to have, at such a distance from one another as to permit the bill of the hook to be placed between them and still leave a sufficient space between the bill and said parts for the passage of the eye during the operation' of hooking and unhooking. The parts A, A then converge toward each other, preferably until they rest in close proximity to each other, and then are bent downwardly, below the plane of the shank portions A, A; thence upward, over and downwardly into or below the plane of the portions A, A and between them; forming a bight a which, as it is observed from the side or edge, forms a complete inclosure, and, from this point the bill a of the hook, formed by the tight fold of the wire at its middle portion, extends Serial No. 503,981. (No model.)

along in or below the plane of the parts A, A toward the fastening loops a, a.

The eye, denoted by B, may be of the ordinary form, as represented in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, or it may be provided with shoulders I), b, as represented in Fig. 4., where the eye'as a whole is denoted by B. The shoulders I), b

are formed by turning the wire outwardly at a short distance from thecenter of the bight of the eye on each of its two opposite sides and serve as an additional protection against the unhooking of the eye, in case the bight of the eye should under any undue strain on the hook or a failure to carry its bill sufficiently low, be permitted to enter the space between the bill and the opposite parts A, A of the shank.

It will be observed that the bight of the hook in which the bight of the eye rests when the parts are engaged, is so closed with respect to the movement of thebight of the eye toward the bill of the hook that no matter how loose the parts hooked may become and no matter how much the two parts be shaken or twisted to make the eye assume difierent positions with respect to the hook, there is no tendency whatever for the bight of the eye to travel toward the free end of the bill of the hook, as there is but one position in which it can so travel and that is when itis made to,

assume a position substantially at right angles to the shank of the hook, as shown in Fig. 3, and this is a position which it will never in use assume, unless intentionally .so placed. I

On the other hand, the hook and eye may be engaged and disengaged with the greatest ease as there is no tendency for them to bind when placed in the position shown in Fig. 3, and when assembled-as represented in Fig. 2in the position which they assume when the greatest strain is exerted upon them, the strain willbe distributed along the plane of the shank of the hook and, in its tendency to elongate the bight of the book, will tend-at the same time-to depress the bill of the hook between the parts A, A of the shank. In fact, the strain may be ever so great without-elevating the bill of the hook above the plane of the shank sufficiently to afford the bight of the eye any opportunity to work toward the end of the bill of the hook when in any of the positions which it assumes in use.

The hook and eye, formed as hereinabove described, is eminently Well adapted for use 5 in connection with the fastening of horse blankets or. other heavy work, where a secure fastening is required, and where the parts are liable to be shaken into abnormal relations with each other; as well as in connection with IO the numerous articles of clothing to which the hook and eye is ordinarily applied.

What I claim is- The combination with an eye, of a hook hav- HENRY S. WEDMORE.

Vi tn esses:

IRENE B. DECKER, FREDK. HAYNES. 

